March Show and Reception at Ranazul Restaurant

You are cordially invited to a champagne reception

for

Cathy Harville's art show

"Embracing Our Natural Places"

at Ranazul Restaurant

8171 Maple Lawn Drive

Fulton, MD 20759

on Sunday, March 13th from 4:00 to 5:00PM

Please bring a friend!

The show will be up from February 27th to April 2nd, 2011. For more information, contact Cathy at 443.286.3233 or cathy.harville@gmail.com.

My New Book May be Previewed on Blurb!

Greetings,

My book is now ready on Blurb for previews and purchases! Blurb is a website for self-publishing. I would be interested in what you think, and I welcome all comments, good, bad and ugly! Since this is my first book, there is no doubt lots of room for improvement.

You can buy the book from Blurb - that would be sweet! But if you fund my project, it will enable me to order a large quantity of books at a discount, to distribute as rewards, and sell at cost in my studio. Plus, they would be hand signed by me, with a sentiment of your choice.

Ultimately, I would like to use the funds from the project to work with a real, live publisher, so my book could be offered to a wider audience, and maybe even sold through book stores. It would have an ISBN number, and a SKU! I plan to meet with a local publisher, and discuss details in the next few weeks.

Of course, none of this will be a reality without your support. I want to thank those who are already backing my project. If the Amazon, online method of pledging is too confusing or time consuming for you to make a pledge, please ask me for help, or write me a check - I won't cash it unless I am fully funded. Even a few dollars will greatly help.

And please spread the word by telling all your friends! If 10 people each told 10 people, that would be 90 new, potential backers. And if half of them donated only $10, that would put me much closer to my goal.

When Land Meets the Sea by A collection of paintings and stories by Cathy Harville |BOOK INFO

Click on the link above to see my book on Blurb!

In life, we all get back far more than we give out. As my mom alway says, what goes around, comes around. If we all help each other, we can accomplish great things.

Thank you, and cheers,

Cathy Harville

Time to Kickstart!

Greetings from snow-covered Maryland! While we wait for another dumping of the white stuff, I have some exciting news brewing in my art world!

Through "Artists' Magazine", I discovered www.kickstarter.com. Wow! In one day, I have put together the project of my dreams - at least for today!

I am going to write and self-publish a book of my artwork, that is titled "When Land Meets the Sea". The premise of the book is to expose the environmental importance of our beautiful and sometimes, mysterious coastlines on the thousands of miles of creeks, rivers, bays and ocean on the East coast. I realized recently that my paintings often depict the places where land and water meet. In these paintings, we find tidal pools, river grasses, waves, and all kinds of things going on -schools of minnows, reflections, ripples, sand erosion, birds fishing in tidal pools - and little girls walking down the beach. Really cool stuff, indeed!

The really great thing about Kickstarter is that it helps artists obtain funds from interested patrons, in exchange for rewards, including interactions with the project. I haven't launched my project yet - there is still time needed for stewing and brewing, and editing. But it will be launched in the next few days, and my blog will be instrumental in getting the word out.

My book will be brimming with my artwork, with stories of each piece, and how each piece contributes to the theme of land meeting the sea. Sometimes the meetings are quiet and peaceful; and sometimes the encounters are wild and loud!

So, as I recover from a nasty fall on the ice from the previous blizzard, and time waiting for the next wave of snow, I have the precious gift of time - time to think, contemplate, and pause - time to consider all the really amazing experiences I have had where the land meets the sea.

Any ideas? I am as open as my book to come. I hope the coming months present us all with our own version of Kickstarter. For the time being, I am so excited, and full of happy anticipation!

Cheers,

Cathy Harville

To Draw or not to Draw?

Below is a response I sent to Robert Genn, author of "Painters Keys" and "Love Letters to Art". He recently published a letter on drawing, and I thought I would share my response with you.

Greetings Robert,

I hope you are happy that I agree with you about drawing. (LOL) I love to sketch very loosely, more like a controlled doodling, but drawing is, well, boring to me. I am not good at it, so I make elaborate grids, and take lots of measurements. By the time I am done, I feel like I have done a math project! And then I have this constrained drawing to fill in, like a paint by number. I painted with watercolor this way for a year, and I always had neck aches. It was far from relaxing.

All kidding aside, I do wish I could draw better. In my own defense, I have had no formal training, so I use that as a lame excuse. But it must be so gratifying to capture something with just a pencil and sketch book in hand. But I also like to focus on producing work that I can show the world. No one, not even my mother, sees my sketch book! I buy beautiful sketch books from time to time, hoping their craftsmanship will inspire me. Instead, they either collect dust, or are given away.

When I paint, I use a pastel pencil to get straight horizons, and to block out large shapes, to get the perspective right. That's it for the pencil. Then I have at it with a brush! I draw the details with a palette knife or rigger, if there are details. They are more fun to use than a pencil or pen, and the effects are much more interesting and unpredictable.

I used to work in pastels, and I used them more like a brush, making marks. I think there are mark makers and drawers. I definitely fall into the mark maker category.

Attached is a beach scene I did, where I drew in the horizon, and fences with a pastel pencil before painting. The fences moved, got painted in and out, until the original drawing is a but a fleeting memory. ("Saving the Dunes", 24"X36" acrylic on canvas by Cathy Harville, c 2009.)

I think I will photograph the progress of a piece, from the initial pastel pencil "drawing" to the finished piece. It would be cool to see how different artists approach the progress of a work, wouldn't it. Could we make this a project among our readers? What fun! we all have to find our own way!

Artfully yours,

Cathy Harville

Managing

I spent many years as a manager for a large company, including having to manage myself when my boss was preoccupied with various "things".

Those experiences helped me to learn to do the tasks that I do best, and leave the rest to the folks who reported to me,

In making art, we have to do it all - shop, keep records, pay taxes, update websites, advertise, and make art - paint, frame, fix, and hang.

I have embraced being the manager of myself. After all, who knows me better? I do solicit lots of consultations from willing artists, and it is nice to have such a collegial atmosphere to keep me going.

I find that while I am framing, or cleaning, or working on advertising, my subconscious works on the next painting; or figures out what to change on a piece on my easel. And I have also found that when I get lazy - not wanting to organize my studio, for example - I set a small goal, with painting as a reward. Otherwise, my husband would have no clean underwear!

Sometimes I wish I had an agent. But if I did, I would never have learned as much as I have. And, I would miss out on so many life lessons.

Artfully yours,

Cathy Harville